No Democrat has won a Kansas Senate seat in a century. Can a megachurch pastor change that?

No Democrat has won a Kansas Senate seat in a century. Can a megachurch pastor change that? 0 seconds of 1 minute, 58 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Stevie Nicks says she's 'awestruck' by Olivia Rodrigo 00:42 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% 00:00 01:58 01:58 More Videos 00:42 Stevie Nicks says she's 'awestruck' by Olivia Rodrigo 01:18 Markey says Massachusetts needs a senator 'who stands up and fights back' 00:44 Trump brushes off Hegseth 2028 speculation: ‘Very early to talk about that’ 01:10 Tango dancers compete for world title in Buenos Aires 00:38 Before 'The Runner,' Gal Gadot says she ran like 'Phoebe from 'Friends'' 01:25 All the latest video game innovations wow crowds at Gamescom 01:20 Alabama Shakes return after a decade apart 01:44 Yeon Sang-ho’s latest film ‘Colony’ pits the value of a lone idea against AI Close 1 of 6 | The founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist Church is attempting to balance being a pastor and running as a Kansas Democrat in for the U.S. Senate. (AP Video: Nick Ingram and John Hanna) 2 of 6 | Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Adam Hamilton of Kansas, listens to administrators at the Health Partnership Clinic as they discuss funding issues the low-income family medical facility is facing on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Olathe. Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley, File) 3 of 6 | Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., stands for the national anthem in front of photo of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett while attending a Concerned Women for America event outside a gun store in Kansas-city" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="7257" data-entity-type="location">Kansas City, Kan. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) 4 of 6 | The Rev. Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., delivers the sermon during the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral attended by President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) 5 of 6 | Rev. Adam Hamilton wipes his eyes during a prayer at an Interfaith Service of Unity and Hope at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan., Thursday, April 17, 2014, to honor shooting victims at the center and a nearby Jewish retirement complex. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, Pool, File) 6 of 6 | Sen. Roger Marshall R-Kan. and Sen. Tommy Tuberville R-Ala. speak to reporters outside of the U.S. Supreme Court, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) By JOHN HANNA Updated 1:07 PM MESZ, September 2, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Adam Hamilton has spent decades trying to bring people to Jesus as founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist Church. Now he wants to bring Kansas voters to the polls as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. A first-time candidate, Hamilton faces an unusual balancing act between political ambition and spiritual obligation. His pastoral role has given him rare prominence for a Democrat in a state where Republicans have won every Senate race for nearly a century, and some in his party are hoping for an upset victory over incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall. But conservatives are also trying to use Hamilton’s religious leadership against him. They suggest that his sermons prove he’s too liberal for Kansas or even that he’s a heretic for suggesting that non-Christians have a path to salvation after death. Marshall said in an interview that Hamilton is “too woke for Kansas.” Hamilton isn’t turning the other cheek. If Jesus were standing before them now, he said, “Roger Marshall would call him ‘woke.’” Only a few ordained ministers have served as senators over the past 100 years and just one — current Democrat Raphael Warnock of Georgia — remained an active pastor. If elected, Hamilton plans to continue as senior pastor at his Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas-city" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="7257" data-entity-type="location">Kansas City area, preaching 12 to 18 times a year. As Hamilton tries to win over center-right churchgoers as well as secular liberals, he’s promising that he wouldn’t use his perch in Washington to evangelize. He’s on unpaid leave, going 11 weeks without giving a sermon this summer, although he peppers his remarks with biblical references, discusses Jesus’ teachings with voters and spends several hours weekly on pastoral duties such as hospital visits. “I need that interaction with people and the caring for people,” he said after a meet-and-greet at a coffee shop in Emporia, a university town of 24,000 that’s smaller than his congregation 110 miles (180 kilometers) to the northwest. Mississippi Senate race highlights shifting map as Democrats and Republicans battle for majority 3 MIN READ AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the Kansas state primary 3 MIN READ Raphael Warnock has done it. Adam Hamilton wants to follow as a pastor-US senator 3 MIN READ Hamilton brings skills that built a huge church to a tough race Hamilton, 61, built his church from a few members meeting in a funeral home chapel in 1990 into a 25,000-member congregation with nine locations across the Kansas-city" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="7257" data-entity-type="location">Kansas City area. He’s demonstrated an ability to raise money and has gained national attention by writing more than 30 books, mostly on Christian theology. Hamilton describes himself as a centrist, running partly on “bringing people together.” His congregation, he notes, is nearly evenly split between Democrats, Republicans and independents. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google and Terms of Service apply. Republican-leaning Kansas has a sizable bloc of moderate voters, protects abortion rights and regularly elects Democratic governors. But Democrats haven’t come within 10 points of winning a Senate race in more than 50 years, and they haven’t won one since 1932. Marshall, 66, is focused on rallying rural conservatives, a strategy that perennially works for Republicans. A fifth-generation farm kid who became an obstetrician, the senator is fluent in agriculture policy. He jibed that suburbanite Hamilton “doesn’t know a heifer from a steer.” Marshall also warned that the Senate could fall under Democratic control if Hamilton wins the race. “His party is too crazy for Kansas,” Marshall said. This year’s race is unusual because of attacks from the Christian right branding Hamilton a heretic. At issue is a 2022 sermon, reposted on X after Hamilton won the Democratic primary in August. Hamilton cited New Testament passages to argue that non-Christians can receive “the saving grace of Jesus” after death, avoiding eternal torment in Hell. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas declared that Hamilton had rejected “the central tenets of Christianity,” quoting a verse in the Gospel of John where Jesus declares, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Marshall thanked Cruz for raising the issue, suggesting the sermon was “one of hundreds” of examples of Hamilton being out of step with Kansans. Hamilton acknowledged that some Christians agree with Cruz — but cited other prominent Christians who might share his own view, including Methodist founder John Wesley and “Chronicles of Narnia” author C.S. Lewis. “If he’s going to call me a heretic, he’s not the first,” Hamilton said. “He won’t be the last.” Hamilton seeks to reassure voters wary of church-state mix Hamilton also has faced skepticism from Democrats wary of mixing government with religion. Republican conservatives routinely highlight their faith, suggesting that God wanted them to seek office and profusely thank God after winning. This year during Lent — the 40 days of self-reflection and repentance before Easter — Hamilton said he skipped a meal each day and prayed about entering the Senate race. “I’m never 100% sure about the will of God, so I tell people I am 87.2% sure I am supposed to be doing this,” he said. “The Kansas voters will decide whether I’m supposed to win, but I feel like I was being called to step into the arena.” In Emporia, Hamilton said that as a senator, he’d “fight for the rights of all people, whether they have any faith or not.” “I’m not running for the Senate to make everybody in this country Christian or United Methodist,” he said. Nolan Guyer, a 72-year-old Navy veteran and retired nuclear plant operator, said he initially worried about voting for a minister, but Hamilton won him over enough that he donated to the pastor’s campaign. “I don’t think it’s the government’s business to teach morals, and that is a preacher’s job,” Guyer said. Republican political action committees have attacked Hamilton as so radical on climate change that he urged his congregation to repent for eating beef. They base that allegation on a misleading stitching together of two parts of a 2020 sermon, with one clip showing Hamilton calling Christians “to repentance” for not protecting God’s creation and a second, earlier clip of him saying that “maybe changing your diet” is among personal actions that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Another ad claimed that Hamilton’s church helped pay for a drag queen story hour for children — a claim his campaign denies. Marshall blamed Hamilton for a split in the United Methodist Church over allowing LGBTQ+ clergy, something it did in 2024. While Hamilton did support that change — at least since 2019 — he also had worked to prevent a split by backing a plan for a local option on whether to ordain or marry LGBTQ+ people. Hamilton said his views on human sexuality and same-sex marriage evolved gradually, as he came to know gay and lesbian people in his congregation. His church now has a Queer Inclusive Collective ministry and participates in Pride events. “One small part of my ministry has been trying to make sure that people who felt alienated from the church and pushed away knew that Christ welcomed them and they were loved by our congregation,” Hamilton said. Hamilton’s watchwords include ‘decency’ and ‘affordability’ One of Hamilton’s assertions, that he is “running on decency,” resonated with Jann Briggs. She’s a retired teacher from Reading, a small town where the Methodist church is across the street from the Miracle Cafe. Briggs and several friends came to Hamilton’s event in Emporia with a copy of his latest book, “Holy Spirit: God’s Presence and Power at Work in Us.” He signed it for them. “Finally, somebody who’s speaking the right words,” Briggs said. Hamilton is also focusing on affordability, a key issue for Democrats this year. He has criticized Republican cuts to federal programs for the poor, such as food assistance and Medicaid coverage. “I just want to know, when did it become ‘woke’ to care for your neighbor?” he asked. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. JOHN HANNA Hanna covers U.S. news, including politics and state government. He’s worked for AP in Topeka, Kansas, since 1986 and is a member of the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. mailto